Year 5 Summer Term 1

In English this term, we will continue our work using Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

This humorous adventure is seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old Liam Digby a ‘gifted and talented’ child whose physical appearance ages him beyond his years.

We will follow Liam and his friend, Florida Kirby on this humorous, action packed adventure exploring the ups and downs of being a parent and the consequences of a ‘little white lie’ The children will have the opportunity to consider moral dilemmas and the consequences of the choices that can be made.

The children will be writing newspaper reports, persuasion texts, diary entries, emails and narratives. They will develop the reading skills of inference, retrieval, explain and predict and they will have opportunities to learn through drama and role play.

In Maths, we will be completing our Geometry units developing our knowledge of the properties of 2d and 3d shapes. We will then study the vocabulary and concept of position and direction. Year 5 will then move on to extending their knowledge of decimal numbers and will be taught to add, subtract and problem solve using this knowledge. 

In Science, we will be studying the unit Types of Change. The children will further develop their understanding of materials by investigating different types of change and will be able to identify if changes are reversible or irreversible. We will observe and investigate the changes that occur due to the changes in temperature and the effects of different acids.

• Children will plan, carry out and use the results of an investigation on the effect of heat on different materials and using evidence to support or refute predictions they have made.
• Working scientifically, they will develop using a range of presentation devices to present their findings and will be able to use a range of information to support or dispute their predictions.

In Computing, Year 5 will be completing the data handing unit ‘Mars Rover 1’. The children will identify some of the types of data that the Mars Rover could collect (for example, photos). They will learn how the Mars Rover transmits the data back to Earth and the challenges involved in this. The children will then learn to read any number in binary, up to eight bits; will identify input, processing and output on the Mars Rovers; read binary numbers and grasp the concept of binary addition. Relate binary signals (Boolean) to a simple character-based language, ASCII.

In PSHE, our focus this term will be relationships. 

We will learn to:

• have an accurate picture of who I am as a person in terms of my characteristics and personal qualities
• understand that belonging to an online community can have positive and negative consequences
• understand there are rights and responsibilities in an online community or social network
• know there are rights and responsibilities when playing a game online
• recognise when I am spending too much time using devices (screen time)
• explain how to stay safe when using technology to communicate with my friends

In RE, the children will begin a new unit of work on Christianity.

They will learn about the symbols of Christianity, the celebrations, what it is like to be a Christian, the texts that Christians use, the buildings, the importance of music, the biblical account of stories about Jesus and Christianity around the World.

In Geography, we will be starting our Sow, Grow and Farm unit. This unit will carry on into next term too. It will teach the children about the features and characteristics of land use in agricultural regions across the world, including a detailed exploration of significant environmental areas. The children will carry out geographical enquiries as well learning more about different climate zones. They will learn how to use four and six-figure grid references and apply this to our local area. We will be looking at specific case studies of where certain foods are grown and consider the impact that food miles have on our environment.

In Music, we will be looking at Blues music. The children will learn about the history of Blues music and its key features. They will have practice of playing chords and the Blues scale. They will then play a selection of Blues scale notes out of order in their own improvisation.

In Art, children will be studying the work of Georgia O’Keeffe. The children will be developing their skills in line, space and shape and mixing watercolours to create their own floral artwork in the style of O’Keefe.

In French, we will continue to use our Kapow French course to study the unit entitled French Monster Pets and continue to develop the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing:

The expected outcomes are as follows:

• Notice cognates and near cognates in the text.
• Recognise some previously known words.
• Use a dictionary resource to research the meaning of relevant vocabulary.
• Recognise and sort nouns by gender and number, and explain the effect this may have on an adjective.
• Modify sentences to use the correct articles/pronouns (un/une and il/elle) according to gender.
• Unscramble jumbled sentences without any errors in word order.
• Recognise rules of agreement in longer phrases.